My early struggles as a budding scholar trying to find her way around academia finally paid off sometime this week when I...

Video Gallery

NN XTRA: Hosting super rapper, Petra

NN XTRA – Ugandan students arrested for sex on campus

NN XTRA: Gambling husband surrenders wife to friend after losing bet

NN XTRA: Polygamy and Atheism

NN XTRA: Kenyan women highest consumers of porn globally

NN XTRA: Valentines and other top trending stories of the week

SNAPPY 7: With Hollywood actor, Michelle Mbayah

NN XTRA: Slay queens Christmas in shags

Sex offender ‘Glee’ actor dies in suspected case of suicide

Posted on Jan 31, 2018
7713 Views

American actor Mark Salling of the Noah Puckerman fame in the TV series Glee. PHOTO | COURTESY

By CHAD KITUNDU

Mark Salling, best known for starring as Noah Puckerman in the TV series Glee, is dead, with the authorities in Los Angeles pointing to possible suicide.

Salling, 35, was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to the possession of child sex abuse images last December. He was expected to receive his sentencing in March this year.

According to TMZ, the actor’s body was discovered by a riverbed near his home in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles.

Although the cause of his death has not been officially confirmed, sources in the US claim the actor committed suicide by hanging himself.

Before his body was discovered on Tuesday, the actor had been on bail after 50,000 child abuse images were found in his possession.

SEX OFFENDER

The actor, who played Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman on the hit Fox show, struck a plea deal in the case in October.

Under the deal, prosecutors agreed that the appropriate sentence for Salling would be four to seven years in prison, with 20 years of supervised release, according to US reports.

Police were reportedly tipped off about the images on his computer by one of his ex-girlfriends.

He was arrested in December 2015 and later released on bail for Sh2 million ($20,000).

The case was then passed onto federal authorities when police realised the severity of the images.

As part of Salling’s release, he was registered as a sex offender and not allowed to live within view of any school yards, parks, public swimming pools, playgrounds, video arcades, or any other places that are regularly visited by people under the age of 18.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

Lieutenant Andrea Grossman, commander of the LAPD Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said at the time: “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, if you hurt a child you will be held accountable.”

In August 2017 it was alleged the actor had tried to take his own life before accepting a plea bargain.

It’s said that the disgraced Glee star cut his wrists in an attempted suicide in the bedroom of his LA home on August 22.

Salling apparently “freaked out” after doing it, before screaming for his roommate who found him bleeding and called for emergency services.

Paramedics rushed to his home where they treated him before taking him to hospital, reported TMZ.